Quick Question...Hopefully

[Mako]

I couldn't find this anywhere so I'll just ask. I am not planning on doing my roof raise until the end of the year due to money. My question is will it be ok to fix the floors and roof from rust/leaks etc. before the raise? I figured it would but I just want to make sure I don't skip any steps or do the cart before the horse and either have an expensive fix or make a mistake I might regret. Any and all advice is appreciated.

[Biscuitsjam]

Sure, why not?

Making your bus waterproof is one of the most important things you do. Go ahead and seal all the roof seams and fix the floor rust.

[musigenesis]

One thing to consider is that probably most of your leaking will be coming from the windows, so they'll continue to leak until you remove them as part of your roof raise (I assume you're not keeping them but it doesn't matter in this case). So you can fix the floors and all the other leaks (lights, roof panel seams, escape hatches etc.) but you will likely still have water coming in.

Normally, leaking windows are dealt with by removing and cleaning them and then reinstalling them with seam sealer. But in your case it would be pointless to do this now since you'll be removing them again later for the raise.

[Mako]

I agree it is pointless to do anything with the windows at this point. I was worried that the water would do damage to the painted/treated floors/walls if left there unattended. I usually am in the bus every other day so i pay attention to it just don't want to do the work and have to redo something unnecessary. I actually do plan on leaving the windows. I love the look of the windows. I plan on having the cut for the roof raise below the windows and lift from there. I guess I could put some sort of tarp or plastic so that it doesn't leak too much. Thanks for the tip.

[Mako]

Originally Posted by Biscuitsjam

Sure, why not?

Making your bus waterproof is one of the most important things you do. Go ahead and seal all the roof seams and fix the floor rust.

Should I just use the Henry's Tropicool or should I use something like dicor first and then use Henry's?

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Mako

I agree it is pointless to do anything with the windows at this point. I was worried that the water would do damage to the painted/treated floors/walls if left there unattended. I usually am in the bus every other day so i pay attention to it just don't want to do the work and have to redo something unnecessary. I actually do plan on leaving the windows. I love the look of the windows. I plan on having the cut for the roof raise below the windows and lift from there. I guess I could put some sort of tarp or plastic so that it doesn't leak too much. Thanks for the tip.

If you're going to raise below the windows, you can clean and reset your windows now and it won't be wasted effort.

Originally Posted by Mako

Should I just use the Henry's Tropicool or should I use something like dicor first and then use Henry's?

A lot of people use Tropicool but there are also some people who aren't happy with it for various reasons. I'd research it pretty extensively before going that route. Seam sealer like Dynatron-550 (or Dynatron-570 which is conveniently white) is easy to apply to roof panel seams and it will definitely waterproof them.

[Biscuitsjam]

Tropicool can add some waterproofing, but to do it right, you need to properly seal the seams.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Biscuitsjam

Tropicool can add some waterproofing, but to do it right, you need to properly seal the seams.

If the seams are already sealed, though, what more does Tropicool add? My bus shows a few signs of having leaked through the roof rivets, but only on one rib that seems to have had the roof riveted to it after leaving the factory (normally only every other rib is riveted to the roof but this one is in between two other riveted ribs which I've never seen on any other bus). It seems that the rivets are normally watertight, but even if they were leaking I would prefer to put seam sealer around them than rather than counting on the paint layer to do it.

[Biscuitsjam]

Mine didn't leak through the rivet holes. The long seams between the metal panels leaked horribly though. I had to scrape out the old cracked caulk and replace it.

Even worse was the old hatches - water would just pour through. I replaced them with boat hatches for $$$, but I still have a small dribble of a leak.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Biscuitsjam

Mine didn't leak through the rivet holes. The long seams between the metal panels leaked horribly though. I had to scrape out the old cracked caulk and replace it.

My seams had some kind of lap sealant put on pretty crudely on the roof (only on the driver's side of the seams) and some sort of weird tar-like substance sealing some of them on the inside - and I just now realized that the tar-like stuff on the inside couldn't have been done post-factory since the original ceiling was still in place when I bought the bus.

Now I wonder if my bus was defective off the production line (like massively leaky) and they did some kind of immediate remediation work on the bus before sending it on to the initial customer. In addition to the extra riveting on the one rib, there was also an additional stiffener that had been welded on the underside in roughly the same position, comprised of three separate pieces that had been placed and welded together (it's now on the ground behind my bus, part of the floor section that was cut away).

The mystery of Rusty 87 continues!

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Biscuitsjam

Even worse was the old hatches - water would just pour through. I replaced them with boat hatches for $$$, but I still have a small dribble of a leak.

Somehow my hatches are completely leak-free (except for one rivet on the vent part that leaks slightly). They were resealed by a previous owner with some thick stuff like sikaflex.